The strength of your community is the best predictor of your project's long-term viability. What happens when that community is gradually infiltrated by assholes, who infect everyone else with their constant negativity and personal attacks? Although someone may be a valuable technical contributor, that person will never contribute as much to the project as the many others who are scared away and demotivated.
This talk will teach you about the dramatic impact assholes are having on your organization today and will show you how you can begin to repair it.
33. TCA: Total Cost of Asshole Team lead Developer relations team Project leadership Recruiting & training new developers Targets & witnesses __________________ Total Cost of Asshole + + + + Sutton
44. In the long run, dealing with assholes is never worth it.
45. Donnie Berkholz Council Member / Sr. Developer Gentoo Linux [email_address] Twitter/IRC: dberkholz
Notes de l'éditeur
Intro Gentoo Social in tech You need to differentiate between personal attacks and technical criticisms.
Community is critical Best predictor of long-term viability How do you attract new contributors and users? Your brand. Function of your ability to create results. Key point: Ability to accomplish your mission
Good to Great Continual improvement – greatness is a process Metrics Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? – come back to this later
Intent to harm not required Difference between how a person treats the powerless and the powerful is a great judge of character
Pattern! States vs traits. Consistency across places and times Everyone has a bad day sometimes. For assholes, every day is a bad day. Tolerance builds up over time. You don't realize who's an asshole.
Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? Negative interactions 5x worse than positive
Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? Negative interactions 5x worse than positive
Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? Negative interactions 5x worse than positive
Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? Negative interactions 5x worse than positive
Are a few assholes balanced by a few amazing people? Negative interactions 5x worse than positive 5 good for 1 bad. Your team needs 5/6 positive people just to break even!
Male targets: reciprocity Female targets: avoidance (Pearson & Porath) – pic: fight vs flight Targets hold leaders at fault Role models
By tolerating assholes, you alienate women Male targets: reciprocity Female targets: avoidance (Pearson & Porath) – pic: fight vs flight Targets hold leaders at fault Role models
Word of mouth transforms one asshole into an avalanche
External cooperation & recruitment: based on reputation, caused by word of mouth Recruitment is different in FLOSS from biz; everyone has the power
Refusal to confront reality Dreadful stats - 50% of targets considered quitting, 12% of targets quit. One asshole, multiple targets. Reputation: word of mouth. Cascade
Social and technical ability are orthogonal. One never balances out the other. A good coder has one; a good developer has both.
Personal interactions Modeling Reporting: encourage; have a place; respond; rapid feedback Is it your job to change them?
Personal interactions—have a conference Modeling
People need somewhere to complain and a sense that action will happen— rapid feedback Reporting: encourage; have a place; respond; rapid feedback
Are you here to fix people or accomplish your goals? At some point, it's time to cut off the detour. Is it your job to change them?
Culture is like molasses, not like code. Problem of change in diffuse organizations: persuasion, shared interests, reputation
Show that social aspects have metrics, too. Developers believe numbers.
Is “good” really good enough? You are a SWAT team, you need great! Recruitment standards – is “good” good enough?
Nobody knows your culture when they start. Do you want them to learn it from an asshole? Provide a code of conduct. Clear expectations set a baseline: code of conduct
Get rid of them, and later you'll wonder why it took you so long to act.